LAKEPORT—The Lakeport Unified School District held a special board meeting on Thursday in response to a budgetary emergency within the district.
According to a press release from Matt Bullard Superintendent for LUSD, due to changes in funding, attendance, and a rise in staffing costs the district’s budget is looking at a four million dollar decrease from the previous academic year. In response to this decrease LUSD has announced “Through Board of Directors’ action, the following positions were identified by the district to provide notice of potential layoff: Bus monitor, Director of Sup. Support Services, instructional coaches, paraprofessionals, permanent substitutes, permanent substitute counselor, and school psychologist.” According to district officials, this decision is not yet finalized and will be considered over the next three months while the budget is finalized.
The termination of these positions would mainly affect daily student life as many of them are largely supervisory positions. Staffing agreements made for the 2023-2024 school year are currently costing LUSD over $1 million dollars per year.
The press release added that, “The district has articulated this commitment during contract negotiations and continues to take steps to ensure all hourly employees at LUSD are paid $20 per hour or more and all teachers are paid $60,000 or more.” Regarding this decision the release states “All positions at LUSD deliver value for students, families and our greater school community. The decisions required to ensure long-term viability for LUSD are extremely difficult and their impacts are far reaching.”
With the federal and state covid 19 pandemic funding coming to an end, the district is losing over one million dollars and is forced to spend the remaining funds by September 2024. The press release also shared “The State of California is currently facing a thirty-four billion dollar budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. This deficit has dramatically decreased the Cost of Living Adjustment (CoLA). The projected CoLA decreased from nearly 4.00% to below 0.80%.” This change results in a loss of $600,000 for the district.
California is one of seven states that still funds public education based solely on attendance, which LUSD shares has been on the decline since the pandemic. The release notes “The District’s enrollment has declined from 1,558 students in 2015-2016 to 1,370 students in 2023-2024.” How this translates to funding is a loss of 1.2 million dollars per 100 students.
Bullard has asked that those who have additional questions contact him directly. The School District can be reached at P: (707) 262-3000 and via this online form: https://www.lakeportusd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1633205&type=u&pREC_ID=contact
